One of my more popular presentations is called “The Virtual Agency.” In that presentation, I explore the various options available today for creating a 21st-century “office.” As consumer expectations change from physical face-to-face to browsing a website, to interacting via a mobile device, it may be time for you to rethink what your physical office looks like and whether you need a physical location.

I’ve been thinking about this for quite some time, and probably agree with what you’re feeling right now — there are some excellent reasons to have a physical office location. I have a physical office separate from my home. It’s not very big, nor very fancy, but it is a place I go “to work” when I’m not traveling. It actually might be accurate to consider it my “man cave.” You see, I realized some time ago that I am more productive and can concentrate better in a work environment.

Summary:

In this episode of The Digital Broker, Steve and Ryan talk with Eric Wistrand, IT Director at the Couch Braunsdorf Insurance Group, and learn how his agency successfully implemented an electronic payment solution. By listening to this episode, you will learn:

How the order-to-cash cycle is riddled with failure points, what they are, and how they affect different payment methods

What your options are to mitigate or eliminate those failure points, and what to look for when evaluating those options

What the payment process looks like when it is optimized, and how it saves your agency time and money

The Digital Broker podcast is brought to you buy Indio Technologies. Indio turns the application and renewal process into an online TurboTax like experience for your clients. As a result, the 1,000+ agents using Indio provide their clients with a top-rated customer experience, reduce their E&O exposure, and outgrow their competition. To learn more about Indio, click here!

Recap:

Clients are still in the habit of paying an insurance agency by check, but take a look at everything that has to happen for that check to clear. (9:20) The check has to arrive in the mail. Someone has to break it open, time-stamp it, and reroute it to the accounting department, assuming an account manager doesn’t have to get involved first. Someone in accounting then tags the check to the client’s file before sending the check out to be deposited. This is typically a batched process—checks accumulate until a batch is deposited all at once, prolonging the clearance of the funds further.

Amazon’s Kindle is the most popular eBook reader. Many know how easy it is (sometimes too easy!) to purchase and download a new book onto their Kindle device. I like using a Kindle because it is easy, lightweight, and allows me to quickly highlight key points and take notes.

But, what about other documents that are not traditional books? These could be a PDF document, a report you want to review, or any other type of document that you want to take with you on your Kindle. Amazon has had a way to send documents to a Kindle for some time. Every Kindle device has a unique email address you can use to attach a document and send it to your device.

This does work fine. However, Amazon has made it just a little bit easier to get a document onto your Kindle by using Send to Kindle (for both Windows and Mac) as an option in Windows Explorer.

Summary:

This episode was originally recorded on December 27th, 2018.

In this episode of The Digital Broker, Steve and Ryan talk to Adam Bratt, co-founder of Indio Technologies, to learn more about how Indio is already helping agents and brokers and will continue to do so by introducing new features. By listening to this episode, you will learn:

A bit about Adam’s background and how Indio got started

How Indio’s existing features help the insurance industry as a whole, saving agents and brokers time, keeping clients happy, and directing more business to carriers

How Indio plans on stimulating even more operational excellence by introducing new business intelligence features

How insurance agencies at large are dealing with pressure to keep up with data technology, where they have made progress, and where there’s still work to be done

The Digital Broker podcast is brought to you buy Indio Technologies. Indio turns the application and renewal process into an online TurboTax like experience for your clients. As a result, the 1,000+ agents using Indio provide their clients with a top-rated customer experience, reduce their E&O exposure, and outgrow their competition. To learn more about Indio, click here!

Recap:

Indio has been The Digital Broker’s sponsor since the podcast’s inception, and we’ve talked about the product when we thought it was appropriate, but many of our listeners are still curious: how does Indio help agents and brokers do their jobs better?

I thought by now fax machines would be long gone. We don’t give much thought to the security threat these machines might pose to your organization. Thanks to Internet Scambusters for allowing me to reprint this excellent article on the problem and solution.

Fax machines may seem like old-fashioned technology but there are still 17 million of them in use in the United States today.

And every one of them potentially has a security weakness that could allow hackers into your home or business network.

In this week’s issue, we’ll explain this vulnerability and the one essential step you should take to safeguard your security.

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About Me

I provide information to insurance agents about how they can use technology to increase revenue and/or reduce expenses.

My 30+ years in the insurance industry gives me an added edge to speak professionally to hundreds of agents each year at National Alliance events and at many state association conventions and technology forums on the future of technology, the social web, and how insurance agencies can establish their Internet presence.

I have authored many articles that have appeared in virtually every insurance industry publication. Recently, I had the honor of being named one of the top 150 LinkedIn Top Influencers. My wife tells me I have a knack for translating “geek speak” into easily understood concepts.

About Me

I provide information to insurance agents about how they can use technology to increase revenue and/or reduce expenses. I speak professionally to hundreds of agents each year at National Alliance events and at many state association conventions and technology forums on the future of technology, the social web, and how insurance agencies can establish their Internet presence. I have authored many articles that have appeared in virtually every insurance industry publication. Learn more about me »

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